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This story is sponsored by the Global Quantum Forum and its hosts, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, P33, and Intersect Illinois.

Illinois: A Global Powerhouse

Experts at the Global Quantum Forum illuminated why Illinois is well positioned to address the challenges of powering future quantum computers. Plans by IBM, Infleqtion, and PsiQuantum to build systems in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park cement Chicago’s worldwide leadership in the field.

Without power, quantum computing can’t happen. Inventing an entirely new computing paradigm based on photons or trapped ions or neutral atoms is only part of the challenge. The industry also has to figure out how to wrangle the electricity these computers need in a confounding energy landscape.

Even as demand grows, even as we debate the best means of generating it, even as consumers expect continued affordability, even as reliability and resiliency are threatened by climate change.

A panel of leaders from computing, power distribution, and power generation companies discussed these issues during the Global Quantum Forum. Intersect Illinois, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and P33 hosted the forum in July.

The consensus: Chicago’s electrical power and brain power make it a global hub for quantum computing and research. The forum brought together about 600 attendees, including the CEOs of Diraq, IBM, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, and qBraid. People from more than 20 countries – Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Japan, to name a few – were part of the event.

“If you look at current quantum computers, they consume kilowatts. A few thousand qubits – they’re going to need megawatts. Classical computers and [utility-scale] quantum computers will be working in concert, so we’re going to have these massive datacenters,” Dario Gil, director of IBM Research and chair of the National Science Board, said during the panel.

Those systems may someday offer opportunities to make energy systems more efficient and mitigate negative impacts of energy production. Panelists suggested battery technology, optimization of the electrical grid, weather forecasting, and improved insurance strategies as areas suited to quantum simulation and ripe for innovation.

“This intersection between energy and computing is daunting but also very exhilarating…We want more energy, and we want more compute. [Delivering on both] is going to put the United States at an incredible advantage. Quantum offers exponential problem solving power,” Gil said.

Chicago and the state of Illinois sit firmly at that intersection. The state launched the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, last year on Chicago’s South Side.

PsiQuantum and IBM will both build quantum computers in the park, and IBM will establish a National Quantum Algorithm Center. The center will bring together quantum information experts, experimentalists, and domain experts across industries to develop algorithms that leverage quantum-centric computing.

At the forum, Infleqtion announced that they will join the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, siting their first utility-scale neutral atom quantum computer and headquartering their quantum computing initiatives there.

“Illinois is number one in a lot of things. It’s definitely number one in nuclear energy” and is among the cleanest grids in the country, Kathleen Barrón, chief strategy and growth officer for Constellation Energy, said. Constellation is the largest producer of carbon-free energy in the United States.

“Illinois is attractive to quantum because it’s such a clean grid.”

Kristen Vosmaer shared similar thoughts about the reliability of electricity in Illinois during a subsequent panel: “Power stability is a key factor in datacenter site selection. The development on the South Side is very smartly placed.” Vosmaer is the managing director for datacenters at the Chicago-based real estate giant JLL.

Speaking on the forum’s second day, Greg Case, CEO of the $15 billion risk-mitigation firm AON, pointed out that Chicago “isn’t as susceptible to natural disaster and catastrophe” as other parts of the United States.

Improvements and expansions by power production and distribution companies will also be crucial to the success of Illinois-based quantum computers for years to come.

“There will be power. We’re going to meet the moment,” said Chris Womack, the president and CEO of Southern Company, which serves nine million energy customers.

“As an industry, we invested about $1.3 trillion over the past decade into infrastructure to keep [America’s electrical transmission grid] the most reliable and resilient in the world. We’ll do another $1.5 trillion in the next five years,” according to Calvin Butler, CEO of Excelon, which is one of the nation's largest utility companies and is headquartered in Chicago.

Illinois’ appeal extends beyond physical infrastructure.

“Illinois [represents] the power of an ecosystem, and that’s how we look at it at IBM,” Gil said. “We have wonderful partnerships with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Chicago…We are longtime partners with Argonne and Fermi [large, federally supported labs with decades of computing leadership]. That’s a huge competitive advantage…That’s a beacon signal”

Butler affirmed the strength and impact of those partnerships, describing his company’s role in bringing PsiQuantum’s computer to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.

“When he chose Illinois, PsiQuantum’s CEO said something very interesting,” according to Butler. “He said ‘When the governor’s office and the utility came out to visit me, it meant something. It showed an ecosystem here in Illinois that is committed to getting us up and running sooner rather than later.’ That’s very important.”

This story is sponsored by the Global Quantum Forum and its hosts, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, P33, and Intersect Illinois. Quantum Campus is edited by Bill Bell, a science writer and marketing consultant who has covered physics and high-performance computing for more than 25 years. Disclosure statement.